The pawpaw fruit is the largest native fruit to North America. This fruit grows in the eastern half of the United States and many different cultivars exist today. However, most people have never tried this delicious, tropical like fruit. The descriptors used to characterize this fruit are banana, pineapple, custard, and mango-like. Its flesh is yellow and it ripens very quickly, which leads to a very short shelf-life. That is one reason why it is not commonly known and presents a problem for retail logistics. However, for those who have tasted the fruit, it is very pleasant and has found application in deserts such as ice cream, pies, and pastries. Indeed, many innovative chefs will provide desert applications of pawpaw fruit at their restaurants in the fall.<br/><br/>Even though this fruit has been known and enjoyed for centuries, an exhaustive look into the compounds responsible for its tropical flavor and aroma has not been published in research journals. Traditional headspace GC-MS methods have identified esters as the major volatile compounds in pawpaw. However, these esters alone do not account for the complex creamy, fruity, dairy, and vanilla character. It is our goal to provide a deeper understanding of the pawpaw aroma through the use of gas chromatography - olfactometry (GC-O) and gas chromatography - mass spectrometry (GC-MS) on extracts obtained through the use of solvent extraction and solid phase microextraction (SPME).<br/><br/>Through the use of GC-O and GC-MS, we have identified several intense aroma active compounds which have never been reported to be present in pawpaw fruits. These compounds, some present at low levels, are contributing significantly to the aroma of pawpaw. In addition, their aroma character is responsible for some of the dairy and sweet, vanillin character of the pawpaw fruit. Some of the new compounds identified include: 2,3-butanedione, gamma-octalactone, vanillin, butyric acid, eugenol, and gamma-decalactone. These new discoveries now provide additional insights into the pawpaw flavor. Additional quantitation and reconstitution steps are underway to validate the importance of this research into aroma of pawpaw fruit elucidation.

Elucidation of the pawpaw (Asimina triloba) aroma: North America's largest native fruit

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.